DEPT. OF ENGLISH, SEM-IV, CC8, THE ILIAD, ATASI SAHOO The Department of English Raja N. L. Khan Women’s College (Autonomous) Midnapore, West Bengal Study Material--2 On The Iliad by Homer (Synopsis and Analysis) For Course: English Hons. SEM: IV Paper: HCC8 Session: 2019-2020 Prepared by Atasi Sahoo Guest Teacher Department of English Raja N.L. Khan Women’s College (Autonomous) Date: 23rd April, 2020 23rd April, 2020 1 DEPT. OF ENGLISH, SEM-IV, CC8, THE ILIAD, ATASI SAHOO ❖ Introduction: Homer’s Iliad is one of the most important and earliest texts of classical literature serving the writers over the years by providing material for critical thinking and also it is the theme of many of the artistic endeavours. Here is a brief synopsis and analysis of the Book 1 of The Iliad. ❖ A Brief Outline of Book I of The Iliad: Book-I starts with the poet’s invocation to muse to support him in depicting the story of Achilles and his anger. Achilles was the greatest Greek hero of all the Achaeans who took part in the Trojan War. The poet depicts the story which starts nine years after the war. The Achaeans sacked a trojan town and took with them two beautiful maidens, Chryseis, the daughter of Chryses, a local priest of Apollo and Briseis. Achilles, the worthiest warrior took Briseis with him as his “prize” and Agamemnon took Chryseis as his. Chryses, priest of Apollo pleaded Agamemnon to return his daughter and in return he would give the Greeks a handsome ransom but the Greek commander-in-chief refused the proposal. So, Chryses begged Apollo for assistance. As a result, Apollo sent plague to the Greek camps causing death of many Greek soldiers. After ten days of terrible suffering, Achilles called an assembly where he asked the fortune-teller to reveal the real reason behind such a misfortune to the Greeks. Then Calchas, the soothsayer, from whom “past, present and future held no secrets” (Iliad P. 6) stood up and revealed that it was a trick planned by god Apollo and Chryses. Agamemnon became very much furious and said that he would return Chrysies if only Achilles gave his “prize” Briseis to him. Agamemnon’s claim humiliated Achilles and both started to argue. Achilles threated to withdraw from battle with his men and return home and Agamemnon threated to take away Briseis himself from his tent. This infuriated Achilles and he wanted to take his sword to kill the Achaean leader but stopped because of the intervention of goddess Athene, sent by Hera, the queen of gods. Athene appeared in front of Achilles and checked his anger. Finally, Athene’s supervision and the wise advice of advisor Nestor prevented the fight. But that night Agamemnon sent Chrysies to her father and sent some heralds to Achilles’ camp to take Briseis away. Then Achilles withdrew himself from his men and broke into tears and called his mother, the sea-nymph Thetis to ask Zeus, the king of gods to punish the Achaeans. The mother learnt from his dear child everything about the quarrel with the Achaean leader and assured him to talk to Zeus about the issue as Zeus owed her a favour. Odysseus who was navigating the ship that was sent to return Chrysies did his job. He returned chrysies to her father who became 23rd April, 2020 2 DEPT. OF ENGLISH, SEM-IV, CC8, THE ILIAD, ATASI SAHOO overjoyed and the father prayed Apollo to relieve the Achaeans from the plague. So, did Apollo. After twelve days, Thetis, daughter of the Old man of the Sea went to Zeus as she promised Achilles. But at first Zeus was reluctant to help the Trojans as his wife Hera was supporting the Greeks but finally, he agreed. Hera became enraged when she came to know that her husband would help the Trojans but her son Hephaestus convinced her not to plunge the gods into fight over the mortals. ❖ Analysis of Book I of The Iliad: Book-I opens with “Anger ‒ sing, goddess…” where Homer invokes the muse to assist him while depicting the story of a Greek hero and his anger and this invocation to the muse is one of the most important features of epic poetry. At the same time, the word “anger” at the very beginning hints at the main theme of the epic that is the anger of Achilles and the results originated from that anger. Most minutely the poem depicts how those incidents started, the reason behind the wrath of Achilles, the problems the Achaeans face because of that anger and last but not the least the Trojan War itself. In Book I, the initial argument between the commander-in-chief Agamemnon and the proud Achilles, prevented by wise Nestor and Athene’s guidance, is paralleled at the end of the book by the quarrel between Zeus and Hera, mediated by her son Hephaistos. The dispute among the gods turns into an entertaining scene that ironically puts emphasis on the severe magnitude of the human quarrel. Homer's practice of reiterating an earlier scene with a later one is applied throughout the Iliad. Actually, the entire epic poem is based on this structural technique. The very beginning significantly establishes the conflict for the rest of the epic as the rage of Achilles appears to be defensible from Book I to Book IX though his anger is opened for criticism from Book IX to Book XVIII. But in Books XVIII and XIX, a conciliation is done by the poet and this pattern continued till the end. Though the epic poem is based on the Trojan War, it only depicts the story after nine years of the war, only a few weeks during the quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles in the final year of the war. At the same time, it does not depict the end of the War, rather is ends with the death of Hector and with the prophecy of Achilles’ imminent death and the destruction of Troy. The central theme is the rage of mortals, the wrath of Achilles. But the gods do always interfere in the activities of the mortals and they engage themselves in the activities of the mortals both internally and externally. Apollo brought plague to the Greek camps by his external involvement whereas Athene controls Achilles’ rage internally. But quite 23rd April, 2020 3 DEPT. OF ENGLISH, SEM-IV, CC8, THE ILIAD, ATASI SAHOO interestingly, sometimes the tricky activities of the gods bring some relief to the ongoing events of the mortals who are fighting for almost ten years. It’s a kind of comic relief also as there is only war and destruction. For some critics the intervention of the gods in the human activities may have resulted from the quarrel among themselves. Actually, Homer has tried to depict the fact that human world is determined by the emotions and passions of gods. The whole event starts with Paris’ selection of Aphrodite as the winner of the golden apple (the three goddess Hera, Athene and Aphrodite asked Paris to choose the most beautiful goddess among them and Paris chose Aphrodite and offended Hera and Athene. As a result, Hera and Athene started supporting the Greeks and Aphrodite was supporting the Trojans in the Trojan War). But Homer does not mention the golden apple in his narrative, he only mentions in the final book that Paris offended Hera and Athena. The emotions of the gods and goddesses are translated into the actions in the human world and that connection between emotion and action is presented with clarity throughout the Narrative. An important aspect of the lives of the Greeks comes to the fore through the clash between the two Achaeans—Agamemnon and Achilles and that are some values of the Greeks— the sense of honour and pride. For Agamemnon, his individual glories proved to be more important than the well-being of the whole Achaean army through his act of taking away Briseis from Achilles. On the other hand, Achilles told his mother to punish the Achaeans because of Agamemnon’s wrong behaviour. Both these great heroes engage themselves in a bitter quarrel with each other for the captive women. Both of them thought about their individual pride and honour: Agamemnon took Achilles’ “prize” and Achilles withdrew himself from the battle to teach Agamemnon a lesson by bringing problem to the Greek army. That overweening pride is ‘hubris’ which enforced the hero to behave in thoughtless ways. ❖ Reference for Further Studies: 1. Howatson, M. C. Ed. Oxford Companion to Classical Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. 2. Homer, The Iliad. Trans. E. V. Rieu. Ed. Peter jones. London: Penguin Classics, 2003. 3. Kirk, G.S. The Iliad: A Commentary: Volume I, Books 1–4, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1985. Google Book Search. Web. 20 April 2020. 4. https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/i/the-iliad/ 5. https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/iliad/ (See the attachment below. It will be helpful to you while reading the text.) 23rd April, 2020 4 HOMER'S "ILIAD" Author(s): D. J. SNIDER Source: The Journal of Speculative Philosophy, Vol. 17, No. 2 (April, 1883), pp. 180-209 Published by: Penn State University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25667963 . 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